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Motor launch (naval)

Type of small Royal Navy vessel used by British Coastal Forces

Field	Value
infobox_caption	--
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
image	Motor_Launch_ML_59.jpg
image_caption	A WW I motor launch - ML 59
section2	{{Infobox ship/class overview
builders	Elco
operators
built_range	1915–1918
in_commission_range	1915–1920s
total_ships_completed	580
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
header_caption	ML.1–50 series
type	Motor launch
displacement	34 t
length	75 ft
propulsion	Petrol engine
speed	19 kn
complement	8
armament	*1 × 13-pdr
section4	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
header_caption	ML.51–550 series
type	Motor launch
displacement	37 t
length	86 ft
propulsion	Petrol engine
speed	19 kn
complement	6
armament	*1 × 13-pdr
section5	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
header_caption	ML.551–580
type	Motor launch
displacement	37 t
length	80 ft
speed	19 kn
complement	8
armament	*1 × 13-pdr gun

later replaced with 1 × 3-pdr
depth charges
later replaced with 1 × 3-pdr
depth charges
later replaced with 1 × 3-pdr A motor launch (ML) is a small military vessel in Royal Navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing. Similar vessels were used by the Royal Air Force for armed high-speed air-sea rescue. Some vessels for water police service are also known as motor launches. Motor launches were slower than motor torpedo boats and motor gun boats

World War I service

Although small by naval standards, it was larger than the preceding steam or diesel-engined harbour launches of 56 ft and coastal motor boats of 40 and 55 ft length. The first motor launches entered service in the First World War. These were five hundred and eighty 80 ft vessels built by the US Elco company for the Admiralty, receiving the numbers ML-1 to ML-580. They served with the Royal Navy between 1916 and the end of the war, defending the British coast from German submarines. Some of the earliest examples, including ML 1, also served in the Persian Gulf from June 1916. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 a flotilla of 12 Royal Navy motor launches travelled down the Rhine performing duty as the Rhine Patrol Flotilla. The only known surviving example of a World War I era motor launch is ML-286, which now lies in a poor condition on the banks of the River Thames.

World War II types

Type	Length	Weight	Speed	Built	Total	Lost	Designed for
Fairmile A motor launch	110 ft	57 tons	25 kn	1939	12		Submarine chasing, later minelaying
Fairmile B motor launch	112 ft	85 tons	20 kn	1940–45	1,284		Submarine chasing, many later roles including air-sea rescue
Harbour defence motor launch	72 ft	54 tons	12 kn	1940–45	486	47	Defending harbours; anti-submarine
BPBC Type Two 63 ft high speed launch "Whaleback"	63 ft	21.5 tons	36 kn	1940–1942	70		RAF air-sea rescue downed aircrew, particularly in the English Channel

The BPBC Type Two was succeeded by the Type Three 68 ft "Hants and Dorset".

Post-war, many motor launches were taken on as pleasure boats. A number of them are on the National Register of Historic Vessels.

References

Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 Conway Maritime Press, 1985. .
Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press, 1980. .

References

Gardiner, p. 101
Jeffrey Charles. "The Rhine Patrol Flotilla Part I: Establishment of the Flotilla".
Gardiner and Chesneau, p. 71

Info: Wikipedia Source

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